A Year of Trump's Board of Peace: Gaza's Unresolved Crisis

It has been a full year since the Board of Peace (BoP), established by US President Donald Trump, brokered a "ceasefire" agreement aimed at ending the war in Gaza. Yet instead of receiving relief and a chance at reconstruction, Palestinians in the strip continue to face attacks and forced displacement as Israeli forces expand their control.

Trump first proposed the Board of Peace in September 2025, pledging to stabilize Gaza and secure long-term peace. By November, a UN Security Council resolution recognized the board as the "transitional authority" in Gaza.

Goals of the Board of Peace

The board's mission is outlined in Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan, along with the "ceasefire" agreement between Israel and Hamas. The ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025.

The plan sets out steps each side must take, potentially forming a "credible pathway" toward a Palestinian state. Under it, Israel must pull its forces back to about 50 percent of the Gaza Strip and halt airstrikes and shelling; release 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,700 detainees held in Gaza since October 7, 2023 — when Hamas launched attacks on southern Israel and Israel launched its war. The plan also calls for reopening border crossings to allow essential aid into Gaza.

For Hamas, the plan requires the group to release all Israeli hostages, then disarm in a subsequent phase, with members granted amnesty or safe passage out of Gaza. It establishes the Board of Peace as the transitional governing body until the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, can take over.

A US-led International Stabilization Force (ISF) is supposed to take over security duties in Gaza from withdrawing Israeli forces. The plan also proposes reconstruction and development in Gaza, where, according to the document, residents "have suffered enough."

What the Board of Peace Has Achieved

In February, Board of Peace members — each paying $1 billion a year to join — met in Washington, DC, for their first summit. There, member states pledged $7 billion in funding, while aid agencies say Gaza's reconstruction needs around $70 billion.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month, the Board of Peace also announced a recovery plan of 66 projects worth $2.4 billion.

The board's results are tied closely to the progress of the Gaza peace plan. Hamas has released all 168 living hostages and Israel has freed Palestinian prisoners. Hamas also announced the dissolution of its governing authority in the Gaza Strip, though Israel dismissed this as a "stunt."

Other goals of the peace plan have only been partially implemented. On governance, a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) was created as the governing body in Gaza, but Israel has not allowed the committee into the strip. The NCAG reports directly to the board, is led by Commissioner Ali Shaath and Palestinian technical experts, and currently operates from Cairo. Israel has not given a reason for barring the committee from Gaza.

Aid remains restricted. According to the famine monitor IPC, only about 227 aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip each day, against an expected 600. Israel classifies thousands of basic items such as tents and essential equipment such as ventilators as "dual-use" — meaning they could serve both military and civilian purposes — and restricts their entry into Gaza. The IPC says about 1.4 million Palestinians, the majority of Gaza's more than 2 million people, will face hunger at least until December, up 200,000 from May, showing a clear worsening of the situation.

Goals Not Met

Observers say the Board of Peace has completely failed to secure the "ceasefire," as Israeli attacks have continued almost daily in the Gaza Strip. Since October 10, 2025, more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed. In the three years since the war began, more than 74,000 Palestinians have died, with thousands more missing and believed dead under the rubble.

Israel says its continued strikes target Hamas members, but the group strongly denies this.

Israel now also controls about 60 percent of the Gaza Strip, more than the 50 percent set out in Trump's peace plan. The "Yellow Line," the boundary demarcating the Israeli-occupied area of Gaza, has been pushed deeper into the strip, displacing more people and squeezing Gaza's population into an ever-shrinking area. Palestinians who accidentally cross the "Yellow Line" have been shot dead.

In December, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared the military "will never fully withdraw" from the Gaza Strip.

Mohamad Elmasry of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies told Al Jazeera that Israel is continuing a broader policy of "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. "They are making life hell," he said, adding: "It is all by design."

As a result, the Board of Peace has also failed to secure Hamas's disarmament so the second phase of the peace plan can begin. Although Hamas has agreed to hand over its weapons to the NCAG, the group rejects the "disarmament" clause because Israel has not halted its attacks or withdrawn from the Gaza Strip as agreed. Meanwhile, Israel says it will not implement the plan unless Hamas disarms, leaving the two sides deadlocked.

No stabilization force has yet been deployed. Six countries — Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Albania, Kosovo and Uganda — have so far pledged personnel for a security force of 20,000 soldiers and 12,000 police, led by US Central Command (CENTCOM). Meaningful reconstruction has yet to take place in Gaza. Palestinians continue to live in tent camps infested with rats and insects, with little shelter from intense heat or rain.

Will the Board of Peace Replace UNRWA?

The Trump administration and the Board of Peace have echoed Israel's position in rejecting the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which has long provided essential humanitarian aid, education, development programs and social services in Gaza, with about 11,000 Palestinian staff.

The Board of Peace said last month it would not cooperate with UNRWA, effectively sidelining the agency. A Board of Peace official told AP that UNRWA could continue operating in Gaza if its programs were deemed suitable, but that "its time is up." UNRWA called the move "unreasonable."

In June, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to extend UNRWA's mandate until 2029. The Board of Peace itself is tasked with overseeing the peace process until December 2027, when the UN will review its progress and may extend its mandate.

Analysts and human rights groups fear the Board of Peace could take over all aspects of Gaza's reconstruction. Some countries, including France and other European states, have also voiced opposition to any effort to replace the UN in the strip.

Still, Elmasry argues that no country is willing to act. "There are so many international actors that do not want to confront the US," he said, adding that this essentially places the fate of more than 2 million Palestinians in Trump's hands.

Ultimately, the Board of Peace has "failed," according to Professor Simon Mabon of Lancaster University. "The failure to implement its own plan to end the Gaza conflict demonstrates the board's impotence, and the inability to ensure Israel — and to a lesser extent Hamas — abide by their own commitments has allowed the genocide to continue," he concluded.